Lamb and Frog

Rage in the cage. Rage against the machine. Rage, rage against the dying of the light. Nah…I’m over it.

When I or my friends fall on tough times, I often find myself telling myself (or my friends) that “it sucks…but the right way is almost never the easy way.” It’s harder to work than to play. It’s harder to save than to spend. It’s harder to tackle a tough problem head on than it is to ignore it and hope it goes away. And, I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s harder to choose peace, love, and light than it is to be angry and cynical…even when you’re being angry and cynical (and, perhaps, even sublimely witty) for a good cause.

That’s why, unless someone is promoting something so hateful that it’s dangerous (rather than merely stupid)…something where remaining silent would be to become complicit in real wrongdoing, I have decided to just shut the hell up. You are entitled to your opinion even if I think it’s wrongheaded, simpleminded, or flat out ass backwards (in both the literal and metaphorical sense). Hell, you are even entitled to post your opinion out here in cyberspace for all world to see. You are not, however, entitled to me validating your opinion by arguing with you. You are not entitled to use me as an amplifier for your hate, anger, and cynicism. I am leaving the fight…refusing to have a battle of wits with unarmed (or extremely ill-armed) persons. That’s not to say I will no longer fight for a cause I believe in (please…I’m Scotch-Irish, which basically means I’m genetically programmed for battle in one form or another). It simply means that from now on I’m going to choose my battles mindfully, engaging only in those that keep the debate respectful, focused, and rational and only when I feel that my voice adds something truly insightful or important that the other participants may have missed.

I admit, it would be much easier for me to take my God-given gift of (written) gab and my extensive vocabulary and proceed to wander willy nilly through cyberspace posting comment after comment in a vain effort to stomp out small fires of stupidity or to fan the flames of an argument for the sake of mere mental exercise. It’s so much harder to sit down and focus…to create something of my own that gives people pause in our hectic world; that creates real smiles on the faces of the people who take the time to read it; that keeps the trees and flowers of our mental world green and fire resistant. It’s easy to trash someone else’s work (typing a snarky comment that rips someone else’s post to shreds is usually a matter of mere seconds); much harder to create one’s own (an actual blog post, on the other hand, is usually an hour or more in the making).

I’ve been on this low-agitation mode (notice it’s not a no-agitation mode…yet) for a while now and you know what I’ve realized? Promoting peace is kind of like exercising. It’s hard. It requires serious effort for me not to comment on some of the stuff I’ve been reading lately. But you know what else? There’s no such thing as ‘peace fatigue’. You start out whining “Aw man, I’m too tired to exercise…” but once you get off your arse and get moving, the more you exercise, the more energy you have. Unlike being in a constant, hypervigilant, high-alert state of snark, which makes me irritable and exhausted, resolving to be patient and peaceful has made it easier for me to be patient and peaceful. Sounds crazy…but it’s working (the proof is, indeed, in the pudding…mmmm, pudding).

So from now on I’m promoting my own creative agenda: To create, not destroy. To resonate peace, love, and light…even when my first instinct (and the easier path) is the opposite. To answer cynicism with silence. To answer anger and hate with patience, kindness, and respect. To be the person who stands in the crowd and refuses to chuck a rock at the scapegoat…at any scapegoat. Why? Because it’s harder to do, that’s why. And the fact that it’s so much harder to do gives me confidence that it is the right thing to do.